“Cancer, cardiovascular diseases, viruses, infections – those are some of the most pressing problems of the human population. In the past, we were only able to describe these problems, not find their cause. Today, we are able to understand the origins of the diseases down to the molecular level. This allows us to design solutions that may ultimately lead to producing the right drug or determining the best treatment method and, by extension, saving many lives”, prof. Pavel Martásek, Director of BIOCEV. The BIOCEV project aims to build a European scientific centre of excellence in biotechnology and biomedicine, whose outputs will lead to a better quality of life and the development and growth of both the knowledge economy and competitiveness of the Czech Republic. Its implementation is a collaborative effort of six institutes of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and two faculties of Charles University in Prague. The uniqueness of the project lies in its balanced combination of research, education and intensive cooperation with the commercial sector. Led by renowned experts, BIOCEV research teams have access to cutting-edge technologies and are an active part of major European groupings. BIOCEV’s main research objective is to develop detailed knowledge of cellular organisms at the molecular level, which will be an inspiration for applied research and the development of new therapeutic procedures. These include early diagnoses of diseases, the development of biologically active substances, including chemotherapeutic agents, protein engineering and other innovative technologies. The scientific scope of BIOCEV has been divided into five research programmes, each of them dealing with a number of separate research projects: Functional Genomics, Cellular Biology and Virology, Structural Biology and Protein Engineering, Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, Development of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures. BIOCEV will become a platform that brings together scientists, students and corporate representatives. Interaction between these groups is critical for successful discoveries.